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AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AFP) — Two new coronavirus infections which sent New Zealand’s biggest city into lockdown Monday are due to the UK variant of the disease, the first to be detected in the country, officials said. The Health Ministry said genomic sequencing identified the infections in Auckland as caused by the highly-contagious strain first found in the UK and said there was no link to any other positive cases detected so far in […]
NOUMEA, France (AFP) — A 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the South Pacific on Thursday, generating a small tsunami that caused no damage to island nations in the region before authorities gave the all clear. The quake struck at just after midnight on Thursday local time (1320 GMT Wednesday) about 415 kilometres (258 miles) east of Vao in New Caledonia at a depth of 10 kilometres, according to the US Geological Survey. The US government’s NWS […]
by Nina Larson with AFP Bureaus GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization insisted Monday that the AstraZeneca vaccine was still a vital tool in the global fight against the coronavirus pandemic, after South Africa delayed the start of its inoculation programme over concerns about its efficacy against a virus variant. “It is vastly too early to be dismissing this vaccine,” said Richard Hatchett, who heads the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), which […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A mammoth effort by Australian firefighters saved homes from an out-of-control bushfire near Perth overnight, authorities said Thursday, but warned strong winds and rough terrain posed an ongoing challenge. At least 81 homes have been destroyed in the blaze at the Perth Hills, on the eastern fringes of Australia’s fourth-biggest city, with surveys of areas burned earlier this week adding another 10 to the tally Thursday. Western Australia state Premier Mark […]
PERTH, Australia (AFP) — At least 71 homes have been destroyed in a bushfire raging out of control near Australia’s fourth-biggest city Perth, authorities said Wednesday, as they told residents to ignore a virus lockdown and evacuate threatened areas. The blaze has torn through large swathes of land in the Perth Hills and was moving towards more densely populated areas. No deaths or serious injuries have been reported so far. “To the people who have […]
PERTH, Australia (AFP) — A wildfire on the fringes of Australia’s fourth-largest city Perth has destroyed several homes and forced emergency evacuations, authorities said Tuesday, just days after the west coast city entered a coronavirus lockdown. Firefighters are battling the out-of-control bushfire on the city’s eastern fringes, where several properties are ablaze and several fields have been blackened. Smoke from the fires sent ash falling in the Perth city centre, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia on Monday demanded Myanmar’s army immediately release de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected leaders, warning the military was “once again seeking to seize control” of the country. “We call on the military to respect the rule of law, to resolve disputes through lawful mechanisms and to release immediately all civilian leaders and others who have been detained unlawfully,” foreign minister Marise Payne said in a statement. […]
WELLINGTON, United States (AFP) — New Zealand confirmed two new cases of the more virulent South African Covid-19 strain in the community Thursday, as investigators scrambled to determine how the virus breached border controls. Health officials said the pair, an adult and child, caught the virus in the same quarantine facility as a woman who tested positive over the weekend, ending a run of more than two months with no cases in the community. They […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand’s borders are likely to remain closed for much of the year as health officials assess global vaccine rollouts, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern warned Tuesday. Ardern said the emergence over the weekend of New Zealand’s first case of community transmission in more than two months showed the danger Covid-19 still posed to a nation hailed for its response to the coronavirus. She said her government would not re-open its […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand’s first case of coronavirus in the community for more than two months has been identified as the South African variant and was likely contracted in hotel quarantine, health minister Chris Hipkins said Monday. The 56-year-old woman, who recently returned from Europe, tested positive on Saturday, 10 days after she completed her compulsory two weeks in isolation. New Zealand has been widely praised for its handling of the pandemic, […]
KOROR, Palau (AFP) — The remote Pacific nation of Micronesia recorded its first case of Covid-19 on Monday, ending its run as one of the few places on Earth without the coronavirus. President David Panuelo acknowledged the development was “alarming” for the country’s 100,000 inhabitants but said the case had been contained at the border. “For this reason, citizens across the nation should remain calm,” he said in a televised address. “Do not panic because […]
BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — The Australian city of Brisbane has called a snap three-day lockdown after a worker at a quarantine hotel contracted the highly infectious UK strain of Covid-19. From Friday evening, more than two million residents in the Greater Brisbane area would have to stay at home, authorities said. “If we are going to stop the spread of this infectious strain, this UK strain, we must act immediately,” Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk told […]
